The impact of travel time information on travelers' learning under uncertainty

Prashker, Joseph N.; Avineri, Erel

Abstract

In this work, laboratory experiment was conducted in order to evaluate the effect of feedback on decision-making under uncertainty, with and without provided information about travel times. We discuss the prediction of travelers' response to uncertainty in two route-choice situations. In the first situation travelers are faced with a route-choice problem in which travel times are uncertain but some external information about routes- travel times is provided. The second situation takes place in a more uncertain environment in which external information about travel times is not provided, and the travelers' only source of information is their own experience. Experimental results are in conflict with the paradigm about traveler information systems: As a consequence of information, the propensity of travelers to minimize expected travel time is not necessarily increased. Providing travelers with static information about expected travel times reveals an increase in the heterogeneity of travelers' choices and reduces the maximization rate. © Springer 2006.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2006
• Journal: Transportation
• Print ISSN: 0049-4488
• Electronic ISSN: 1572-9435
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 393-408
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-005-5710-y
• Keywords: information, learning, route–choice, uncertainty, utility maximization
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1041518
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11116-005-5710-y
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Originally presented at the IATBR Conference (Luzern, 2003) and the Conference on Risk, Decision and Human Error (Trento, 2004 where the author was awarded by the European Association of Decision Making). Featured on the journal's list of top 5 most viewed articles.